Roofer&#39;s knife



Sept. 26, 1933. M L RADEL 1,928,187

ROOFER S KNIFE Filed Aug. 25, 1930 3mm/vwo@ MAUR/CE l.. 'AEL PatentedSept. 26, 1933 Maurice L. Rudel, st. Paul, Minn.

`Application Aug-ust V25, 1930. Serial No. 477,677

2 Claims.

This inventionlappertains to tools and more particularly to a toolforfacilitating thelaying of 'asphalt roong material.. v

One of theprimaryobjects of my invention is Vto provide a novel type ofknife for cutting and marking'asphaltroong material, the bladefbeing ofnovelformation, whereby the material canv be readilyand quickly cut withthe expenditure of a minimum amount of exertion. j

Another important object of my invention is the provision of novel meansfor mounting the cutting blade on the operating handle whereby the bladewill be so disposed as to readily engage the material and to lodge in aplane below the material whereby the hand of the operator will bepositioned above the material and thereby not come into contact with therough surface thereof.

A further salient object of my invention is the provision of novel meansfor mounting the blade on the end of the handle whereby the same will befirmly held and whereby the same can be quickly removed for resharpeningor renewal of the blade as the case might be.

A further important object of my invention is the provision of novelmeans for mounting the blade on the handle whereby the blade will bethoroughly braced and whereby a part of the blade holding means can beutilized as a marker or punch to facilitate the initial'starting of thecutting of the asphalt material.

A still further object of my invention is to provide an improved rooferstool of the above character, which will be durable Vand ellicient inuse, one that will be simple and easy to manufacture, and one which canbe placed upon the market at a reasonable cost.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in thenovel construction, arrangement and formation of parts,v as will behereinafter more specifically described, claimed, and illustrated in-theaccompanying drawing, in which drawingz'- Figure 1 is a side elevationof my improved tool.

Figure 2 is a detail section taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1 lookingin the direction of the arrows illustrating the novel means for mountingthe blade on the handle shank and the novel marker or punch carried bythe handle shank, and

Figure 3 is a detail perspective view of the novel blade utilized in mytool.

Referring to the drawing in detail, wherein similar reference charactersdesignate corresponding partsthroughout the several views, the letter Agenerally indicates my improved tool, which comprises a shank or handle10 preferably formed from round metal stock. One end of the shank orhandle 10 is provided with a hand grip 11 which can be made of wood, ifpreferred. The shank or handle 10 is offset as clearly shown in Figure lof the drawing and thus this handle embodies substantially parallelfront and,l rear portions l2 and 13 and the downwardly inclinedconnecting intermediate portion 14. The front Aportion l2 is thusdisposedin a planeubelow the rear portion 13 and the handle grip 1l istherefore arranged above said front portion 12. The front portion 12 atits extreme forward end is preferably flattened as at 15 and bifurcatedto provide spaced parallel ears or arms 16. These ears or arms 16 areadapted to receive therebetween the cutting blade 17, which forms animportant part of my invention. The cutting blade 17 includes a at body18 having a tang 19 projecting rearwardly from the central portion ofits rear edge and the inner or rear edge of the body 18 on oppositesides of the tang 19 are sharpened to provide cutting edges 20 and 21.These cutting edges 2G and 21 preferably incline inwardly toward thetang as clearly shown in Figures 1 and 3 of the drawing. These ears orarms 16 receive the tang 19 and the central portion ofthe body 18 of thecutting blade and the tang and the central portion of the body 18 of theblade is provided with openings 22, which align with openings formed inthe arms 16. These aligned openings receive tightening bolts 23 whicheffectively hold the blade in position between the ears or arms 16 andthe arms or ears into intimate contact with the opposite faces of theblade. It thus can be seen that the blade projects above and below theshank or handle 10. One of the ears 16 is made longer than the other earas indicated by the reference character 24 and this arm or ear projectsbeyond the outer edge of the blade. The end of the projecting portion 24of the ear 16 is beveled to provide a sharpened penetrating or markingpoint 25, as more clearly sown in Figure 2V of the drawing. It shouldalso `be noted that after a cut has beenstarted and the v blade engagedthrough a slit formed by the extension 24, the tool may be disposed atsuch an ineline with respect to the sheet material that the extension orblade 24 will engage in the cut and serve as a rudder or guide to directmovement of i the blade as pulling force is exerted. Therefore the bladewill be braced against transverse movement and a straight cut will beeasily made. This is shown in Figure 1 by dotted lines representing ashort section of sheet material with the extension 24 and one blade ofthe cutter extending through the material.

In use of my improved tool the blade is inserted in the material to becut and is drawn along said material, the cutting edge 21 effectivelyseverng the same. Owing to the offset formation of the shank or handle10 the hand grip will be positioned in a plane above` the material andthus the hand of the user will not come into contact with the roughsurface thereof. The blade can be reversed so as to bring either thecutting edge 20 or 21 below the handle bar and owing to the constructionof the blade the edges can be readily sharpened when necessary ordesirable.-

The point 25 is used for marking the roofing material and when a cut isstarted in the middle of a sheet of roong material, this point 25 can beused as a punch to make an initial opening in the material forpermitting the insertion lof one end of the blade therein.

Changes in details may be made without departing from the spirit or thescope of this invention, but:

' What I claim as new' is: 1. A tool for cutting sheet materialcomprising a shank bent in spaced relation to its ends to form offsetfront and rear end portions joined by a diagonally extendingintermediate portion, the said front portion being'split from its freeend to form longitudinally extending arms, one arm being longer than theother and projecting beyond the free lend thereof, a blade extendingtransversely between said arms with its end portions projecting fromopposite side edges thereof and having rearwardly diverging sharpenededges, the intermediate portion of the blade being extended rearwardlyto form a tang having its outer end of greater width than the arms toproject from opposite sides thereof and having its side edges convergingrearwardly, and removable fasteners engaged through the arms and bladeto removably secure the blade in place,

the longer arm projecting forwardly from said blade and sharpened toform a penetrating prong adapted to initially penetrate the sheetmaterial to be cut and engage in a cut to guide the blade throughmaterial being cut.

2. A tool for cutting sheet material comprising a shank, the said shankbeing split from its front end to form longitudinally extending arms,one arm being longer than the other and projecting beyond the free endthereof, a blade extending transversely betweenfsaid arms with its endportions projecting from oppositeside edges thereof and having sharpenedrear edges, the longer arm projecting forwardly from said blade andsharpened'to form a penetrating vprong adapted to initially penetratethe sheet material to be cut and engage in a cut to guide the bladethrough material being cut.

Y MAURICE L. RADEL.

